Given Lubinda’s expulsion defered

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:51:19 +0000

The majority of the Patriotic Front (PF)’s Central Committee members yesterday refused to endorse  recommendations by the Edgar Lungu led Disciplinary Committee to expel Kabwata Member of Parliament Given Lubinda from the party.

The committee that met yesterday to discuss the fate of Mr. Lubinda did not agree with the recommendations saying that the action the party wanted to take was too harsh.

According to officials that attended the meeting, PF Secretary General Wynter Kabimba and his friends who cooked up the charges against Mr. Lubinda were shocked at the resistance from the entire committee forcing them to postpone the meeting to 23th February 2013.

The officials told the Daily Nation that Mr. Kabimba was shocked and surprised to see the resistance from members of the central committee who he thought would support him to flash out Mr. Lubinda out of the party.

“This man thought we are going to support his Adolf Hitler way of doing things, he wanted divide and rule type but the resistant that he felt taught him a lesson that he is nobody in the party and hopefully this should teach him a lesson. Given is not going anywhere,” the source said.The source said that what shocked Kabimba was that even the people who recommended the expulsion to the central committee objected to the action.

They said that the attempts were a failed plan by Mr. Kabimba to expel the Foreign Affairs Minister Kabwata.

Another source within the PF Central Committee said that some senior members of the party including those that were supporting for Mr Lubinda’s expulsion decided not to endorse his expulsion because it would have set a bad precedence in the party.

The source said the members who were in for the expulsion were met with serious and continuous resistance from members who felt expelling Mr. Lubinda, the party would be shooting itself on the foot.

According to the sources there was a prolonged debate in the meeting held at State House where it was forced to defer the meeting to next months.

“It is not the question of not having enough time but that members did not agree with the decisions. Most members feel that Mr. Kabimba is talking the party towards destruction. We have more than enough problems in the party and expelling Lubinda will be creating more than we can handle.”

The sources further disclosed that those opposed to Mr. Lubinda’s expulsion were doing so, firstly, to counter the influence within and to forestall the impression that the party was victimising those with divergent views.

Members of the disciplinary committee who opposed Mr. Lubinda’s expulsion also maintained their position in the Central Committee, saying that they would not be intimidated by those close and friends of the President.

And a clergyman from Northern Province charged that the case involving Mr Lubinda was a threat to democracy and aimed at disgracing him.Pastor Joseph Chishimba said it was imperative that Zambians learn to exercise justice and be able to back people who stood for the truth to serve the integrity of the nation.

He said he was shocked that his contribution in the party were so soon forgotten, and wondered why Mr Lubinda faced such a cold shoulder from the party he supported so dearly.

“There is no way Mr Lubinda can be unfaithfully to his party today when he had been loyal for all these years when the PF was in the opposition for ten years. If it is so, then how can he change his mind so soon? He asked.Pastor Chishimba reiterated that Mr Lubinda was not only for the PF but for all the people in the country because he contributed a lot.

However, the central committee has deferred Mr Lubinda’s case to February 23, 2013.